


Before You Go

by HovercraftOfEels



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Old Republic AU, because i'm a very predictable bitch, but a pretty nice one, mostly just fluff and longing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-26 05:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14993804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HovercraftOfEels/pseuds/HovercraftOfEels
Summary: Just because he was a scoundrel didn't mean he would be corrupting any Jedi if he could help it. Problem was she didn't really agree with him.





	Before You Go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hyperphonic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyperphonic/gifts).



Ben Solo wasn't a good guy.

He was the son of a senator and a smuggler, and while he might have been Force blind as shit, he knew that the Jedi were needed. More than that, they were _required_ because everyone knew the Sith Empire would push back against everyone if gone uncheck and that they were the only thing keeping the shadowy Emperor at bay. He might have been an outlaw, a criminal, a privateer at the very best with some real nebulous authority from the Republic to run blockades for the forces, but he wasn't a hero.

She was.

Rey was the only name he knew her by, standing by his uncle's side, somehow blindingly bright even as she should have been shadowed by the living legend next to her. At a briefing before an attack on Korriban (which should have been unthinkable and yet here they were, striking at the heart of the Empire) she stood there, grinning at him with a wrinkle of her nose that had Ben staring in spite of the elbow in his side that he was certain came from his mother.

"That's Rey," she had whispered, trying to get him to focus on the briefing by answering his questions preemptively. "She was Luke's apprentice, just became a Knight. Now pay attention."

He really couldn't. Not now.

Rey ended up on his freighter, his job to drop her behind enemy lines along with a few other sentinels while he sliced into their comm relays. Ben didn't like it. It was stupid, but he didn't like it because it all felt too clean, everything was going too well. As the Jedi all clamored back onto his ship, Chewbacca shouting something along the lines of having a bad feeling about this, they made their get away with ease and Ben frowned.

"For someone who just won, I'm not sure I've seen a darker expression," came a voice by his shoulder, strangely gentle for all its teasing words. "You feel it too, don't you? That something isn't quite right." Ben turned to see the beautiful Jedi with laughing eyes surprisingly worried, and he felt an absurd impulse to brush her hair behind one ear.

She was a Jedi. What's more, she was his uncle's protege, clearly, and to say that he and Luke Skywalker were on good terms would be a big kriffin' lie. But all the same, Ben found himself a little lost in her eyes, especially the way the light of the hallway around them seemed to reflect in them a million times over. He finally remembered she had asked him a question after just long enough to make it awkward, and cleared his throat a little.

"Yeah. I feel it too."

Maybe that was too vague, but he felt a lot of things just then, mostly that he was a jackass for having intensely inappropriate thoughts about her. Maybe he was a scoundrel, sure, but he wasn't about to corrupt a Jedi.

It just seemed like she had other ideas, though.

Ben gasped softly because Rey put her hand on his chest, and he realized with something near shame it was the first time someone had touched in him years without meaning to cause him harm. He'd been punched in the face in almost every cantina in the Outer Rim, but it was her gentle touch that took his breath away.

Oh, he was in deep shit.

"Trust those feelings, Ben. I have a feeling we're going to need it in the days ahead." She paused, looking up at him with some kind of intent he could only guess at (and kriff, did he have a few guesses) but then seemed to think better of it.

Before she could pull away, he put his hand up, covering hers with it as he looked deep into those bright eyes.

"I've got you. Your back, I mean. You're not alone." What possessed him to say that was frankly beyond his ability to explain, but Ben breathed a sigh of relief as she smiled, turning her hand to squeeze his before pulling away.

"Neither are you."

She darted away, back to her Jedi while he stood there with a smile that was a little dazed.

_Oh, kriff. I'm really in for it now._

**Author's Note:**

> I love you, Zoey. <3
> 
> This is set just prior to the Shadow of Revan, as much as that matters. Mostly I'm just testing the waters for a big Old Republic era au. Hope you enjoy!


End file.
